At 64, the former vocalist for hard-rock groups Rainbow and Deep Purple has joined a list of artists better known for earlier work who have jumped to the defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At a news conference in Russian-annexed Crimea, where he had three concerts scheduled, Turner said he wore a pin depicting Putin because "I believe it."

"I've listened to every leader in the world," Turner said. "The only one telling the truth is Putin."

Turner was speaking on August 12 in Simferopol, the capital of the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in March 2014 after sending in troops and staging a hasty referendum dismissed by the United States and about 100 other countries as illegitimate.

"Truth be told, I have no love anymore for the United States," Turner said. "I don't like the administrations, I don't like what's going on, I don't like the lies to people. I don't like anything. It's not my father's country, when there was opportunity, when there was truth."...............